How do acupuncture and herbs help sinus infections? Part 2

A stuffy, runny nose and pounding headache are no way to spend spring. Unfortunately, many people are struggling through the season thinking they are fighting seasonal allergies. Upon closer look, a lot of those people are actually battling a more serious and chronic sinus infection. As we discussed in the last blog, chronic sinus infections are becoming increasingly common but you don’t need medicine to get better. Antibiotics can even worsen your symptoms. Acupuncture and herbs are excellent ways to bolster your immune system, preparing you for any allergens and bugs that may come your way. After all, Chinese Medicine has been used for centuries to prevent disease!

Acupuncture and Herbs to Prevent Oncoming Allergens

Sinus infections are often confused with seasonal allergies because the aggravator in both scenarios can be airborne. Inhaling allergens or toxic chemicals increases your odds of chronic inflammation. It’s important to note that there is always a segment of the population that is exposed to pathogens and allergens, but that does not actually contract the illness or show symptoms (except for epidemics, of course). Think of your friends who are constantly sidelined in the winter with every cold bug that passes through town. Then there are others who haven’t been sick in years.

Once again, it falls on your immune system to keep you healthy. Chinese herbs are an excellent way to help people with ranging immune strengths. Targeted herbal therapy lowers populations of microbes while strengthening your body’s immune system. Generations of Chinese Medicine practitioners have taken this preventative and proactive approach – if your body’s internal armor of immunity is reinforced, you should be able to endure everything from allergens to infections.

Watch What You Eat

It’s not always what you inhale – sometimes it’s what you eat. Chronic sinus problems can also be caused by an imbalance in the microbiome or by food allergies that produce mucous, such as dairy, sugar, yeast or gluten. In fact, the consumption of pasteurized dairy is one of the most common lifestyle factors that predispose people to chronic infections around the ear, nose and throat area. Eating cheese and drinking milk contribute to an accumulation of phlegm.

Dietary and environmental triggers vary vastly from patient to patient, so it’s my job to evaluate my patients on a case-by-case basis and help you avoid mucus-producing factors (although it must be said that avoiding sugar and dairy usually improves symptoms for most people). Diet modifications, acupuncture and herbs can help reduce mucous production while also balancing the microbiome and strengthening the digestive function. Scottsdale acupuncture and herbs can also manage the symptoms while addressing the root causes. This avoids exacerbating the problem with steroids and antibiotics, which are often linked to causing the problem in the first place.

Allergens are all around us, so you can never fully eliminate bugs from your system. But you can keep them in check with acupuncture and herbs. I work with patients using Chinese Medicine to reinforce the body’s defenses, making you better able to handle an assault from germs, allergens or toxins. Added bonus: acupuncture and herbs also address the contributing causes and symptoms like stress, sleep and digestive imbalance. Stop carrying Kleenex everywhere you go and dealing with the mounting sinus pressure – schedule a complimentary consultation with me and let’s see what we can do to kick the chronic sinus infections!